Elizabeth Coe is the Host of the Plant Based Not Perfect Podcast, Owner of Haute Healthy and a blogger who is obsessed with living a plant-based, not perfect life. She created #plantbasednotperfect with the mission to help others live their healthiest lives. Keep reading this IG Live Recap to hear about her plant-based journey, advice on making plant-based meals satiating, and so much more.

Elizabeth’s plant-based journey:

Around nine years ago, Elizabeth fell down the Netflix vegan documentary rabbit hole and attempted to go raw vegan. Despite her best efforts, she quickly learned this was not sustainable for her lifestyle of having a 9-5 job and going to events often. She slid back into her previous way of standard American eating, which was composed of loving cheeseburgers, fries, beers, you get the gist. Two years later, her mom went to the hospital with congestive heart failure, as a result of a dental infection in her mouth that spread to her heart. As Elizabeth frantically searched for healing modalities, she kept stumbling across the power of a plant-based diet. Many of the articles she found described how plant-based eating can help to control and even reverse chronic diseases that we have come to accept as normal. Once she learned this, she was determined to go plant-based and find a way to make it work for her, alas her brand @plantbasednotperfect.

What does plant-based mean for you?

For Elizabeth, plant-based means eating whole, unprocessed plant-based foods 80% of the time, and then 20% of the time is left for anything else. The 20% could mean animal products, processed foods, or alcohol, depending on her mood. When she’s on vacation, this ratio may be more like 60-40 and when she’s in the comfort of her home, it may resemble 90-10. As she explains, having the flexibility of “not being perfect” allows you to go out to eat, travel, and enjoy life because you can’t always know what’s in everything you’re eating.

That being said, she still has her non-negotiable foods that she doesn’t eat. These include red meat, chicken, pork, and eggs. She used to eat eggs every morning but once she found the research that linked eggs to cancer growth, she changed her mind forever about eggs and has never looked back. Also, based on research, she does not believe that seafood leads to the same health issues as animal products, so she still consumes seafood from time to time.

How to make a plant-based meal more filling:

“When you’re eating a loaded plant-based salad, you should not be hungry an hour later,” Elizabeth stated. She went on to explain that whole plant-based food are filled with fiber so they help keep you satiated. When you switch over to being plant-based, you need to start eating larger portions because fruits and vegetables are fairly low in calories. You also may want to add in more plant-based protein such as beans, nuts, seeds, and healthy fats to make your meals more filling. Her favorite toppings to spice up a salad include chickpeas and cannellini beans for their creamy texture, nutritional yeast for its cheesy flavor, and hemp seeds and avocado for healthy fats.

Tips for adjusting to the plant-based mindset:

If you’re choosing eggs, choose egg whites. (listen to her podcast episode, all about eggs)
Go slow, don’t try to go raw vegan overnight.
Start with changing one meal a day from animal-focused to plant-based. An easy meal to start with is breakfast! Some of her favorite plant-based breakfasts include tofu scrambles, overnight oats, and chia pudding. She suggests finding a breakfast that you love and look forward to. Once this is established in your routine, you can move to making plant-based dinners.

Our Le Health Club members will be receiving an ebook with Elizabeth’s go-to plant-based breakfast, lunch, and dinner recipes! The ebook will include lots of fun and easy recipes, ranging from her delicious lentil soup to some yummy Greek tacos.